95 northbound accident causes major delays

Three separate crashes Wednesday morning on northbound Interstate 95 involving several cars, a tractor trailer and a motorcycle left a cyclist with life-threatening injuries and the traffic lanes closed during the morning rush.

The series of accidents began at about 5:45 a.m. on northbound I-95 just before the exit for Quantico, when a station wagon rear ended a Honda, which was stopped in traffic. The driver of a Harley-Davidson then rear-ended the station wagon.

That secondary collision caused the cyclist to be thrown from the motorcycle. He was then hit by a tractor trailer. Finally, three more cars collided while trying to avoid the motorcycle.

The motorcyclist, who has not yet been identified, was flown to Inova Fairfax Hospital with life-threatening injuries. He was the only person injured; however, the driver of the station wagon was charged with following too closely.

Northbound traffic on I-95 reopened about 75 minutes after the first crash.

Significant delays that stretched for miles persisted even after the lanes reopened.